


Finding Home

by Pixelatrix



Series: The Hacker [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Absent Parents, F/M, M/M, Pre-Canon, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 00:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1585541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixelatrix/pseuds/Pixelatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stuck between her drugged-out mother, and a gang that wants her dead, Fia Hackett heads to Arcturus to the one person who can help her, the father she's never met.</p><p>Alternate take on how my story Child's Play could have started.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Home

**Author's Note:**

> I know, Fia's just that one character that I always have a ton of what ifs for.
> 
> Thanks for the kudos, comments and subscriptions. It's like candy for a writer. =) It keeps me fueled to write more lol.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Bioware Owns all Sadly.
> 
> Magical Betas: CelticGrace & MissMeggo929

A hooded figure sat at a table in the darkest corner of the Bluebird Café on Arcturus. She’d been watching an Admiral ordering his coffee. She’d been following him all week to learn his schedule.

_0530 – coffee_

_0600 – office_

_1200 – lunch_

_1300 – meetings_

_1900 – gym_

His name was Admiral Steven Hackett. He was an Alliance hero and her father. She just hadn’t figured out how the hell she was going to approach him.

In theory, Fia knew Hackett wanted his daughter in his life. Over the past eighteen years, she’d eavesdropped on many of his vid-chat arguments with her often drugged out mother, Patricia. Even after losing his legal battle for her, he kept trying. He had offered everything including money, but Patricia had sneered at him.

Her mother took great pleasure in ensuring that Fia never once spoke to her father. As a kid, she had sent messages to him over the extra-net. She stopped when Patricia found out.

All Patricia cared about was her next hit, Fia had gotten her education on her own on Omega. By the time she was fourteen, she was a talented enough hacker that the Blue Suns recruited her. It was her ticket away from _everything_.

She became close with Zaeed Massani, one of the founders of the Suns. He kept an eye on her, helped her avoid some of the creepier basters that wore the blue armor. She liked the grumpy merc.

_And then the stupid bastard got himself shot to hell._

With only minutes to make a decision, Fia risked everything to get Zaeed to a hospital. She used her skills to cover their tracks. She was quick enough that Vido never knew _where_ Zaeed went, but he did know who had helped him.

It meant that for the last six months, Fia had been on the run. Vido already killed her mother; let her naked body in a hallway on Omega as a _gift_ and a warning. She realized then she needed help.

Zaeed was out of commission for at least another six months, so he was useless to her. She was an eighteen year old with no contacts or connections. With Vido placing a hit out for her, there wasn’t a merc out there who would do anything but put a bullet through her head.

 _So Arcturus it was_.

And now Fia had rounded off her criminal career at eighteen by stalking her own father. She just didn’t know how the hell to talk to the man. It wasn’t as easy as the silly messages she’d sent as an eight year old. Hackett had been kind, and never pushed her for anything. She’d always wished she ignored her fear at her mother’s response and kept messaging him.

_How the hell did she approach him now?_

_‘Hi, I’m your kid and I’m so fucking screwed right now.’_

Fia stared morosely down at the empty cup of coffee in her hand. She was on the very last of the credits that she managed to get out of her mother’s account and her own account. She couldn’t afford to get more without stealing them, and that wasn’t going to endear her to an Alliance Admiral.

“From the Admiral.”

Fia glanced up sharply when the barista placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of her along with a very large chocolate muffin. “I…”

“He asked me to give you this note.” The young woman placed a piece of paper in her hand and went over to another table.

Unfolding the scrap of paper, Fia found a note that under other circumstances would’ve made her laugh. It was short and to the point. She wasn’t sure if he knew who she was, but he knew something was going on.

‘Stop stalking me. Try talking to me, kid.’

“I’m going to sit down.” Hackett took the seat across from her while she was still obsessively staring at the note. “And we’re going to enjoy the first breakfast that we’ve ever shared together. When we’re finished, I’m going to take you to my apartment. You can rest, shower and then we can talk about why my daughter has been following me all week.”

_Well, shit._

“I…” Fia stammered. She crumpled the note in her hand as she tried to pull herself together. “Shit.”

He started to reach out a hand towards her then stopped himself. “I know that you’re in trouble. I’d like to help if you’ll let me.”

“Why?” Fia mentally smacked herself with a groan. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._ She rubbed her forehead and tried again. “I’m…going to eat my muffin.”

“We have a few undercover operatives working on Omega right now. One of them sent me a message several months ago about a dead body that had been found. _Patricia._ She had my name on her contact list, so they let me know. They also overheard rumors about Vido Santiago having taken out his co-founder.” Hackett took a sip of coffee before continuing. “And then the part that has caused me endless sleepless nights, a bounty with _your_ name on it from Santiago who appears to prefer you dead, not alive.”

“Yeah, about that.” Fia scratched absently at the Suns tattoo on her wrist. She’d gotten it more for Zaeed than the gang itself. He’d called her ‘his silly little fool’ at the time. “I started…shit…this is so not how I wanted my first time meeting you to go.”

“Oh? How did you imagine it going?” He pushed the plate with the muffin towards her. “Eat, I know you have to be low on funds if you’ve been on the run for months.”

“More hugging and happy shit, less ‘oh hi, I’m your long lost daughter who is now a criminal’.” Fia winced at her own words. “I doubt I’m the sort of person a man like you wants hanging around.”

“And what sort of man am I?” Hackett asked after a prolonged silence where he’d seemed to be taking her measure just with a look.

_It made her uneasy._

She ran her fingers through her short blue hair. It had been the first thing to go when she was trying to lose the Suns tracking her. She’d trimmed her long hair all the way until it was barely an inch long and dyed it a brilliant blue, as a joke.

_What kind of man was Hackett?_

“I think you’re a good man. A hero, a legend. You do the right thing all the time.” Fia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I’m…I was a low-level member of the Blue Suns. A merc, a criminal, a hacker. I was raised on Omega by a drug addict how barely remembered how to walk straight, let alone feed me.   She was only sober long enough to argue with you and charm the assholes in child court. She’d fall right back down the dust rabbit hole and forget I existed.”

“Ofelia.”

“ _Fia,”_ she snapped at him. She cringed almost immediately. “Sorry. Shit. I…call me Fia. I hate _Ofelia._ ”

“Why?”

Fia stared down at her uneaten muffin. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have come here.”

“And where else should _my_ daughter have gone for help?” Hackett set his cup down and got to his feet. He glanced down at her untouched food and reached out to help her out of the chair.

“What…”

“I’m going to take you to my office and introduce you to a few people who will help you get settled on the station.” Hackett kept a hand on her elbow as he guided her out of the café.

“Settled?”

He stopped walking and turned so he was in front of her. “You have two choices, you can leave or you can let me help you. I’d like to help. I’d…give anything to be the father, the family, you’ve always deserved to have. But I can’t make that decision for you.”

“You’d let me go?”

“My definition might be a little different than yours.” Hackett started walking again with a firm hand on her arm. “I’d let you go with a very discrete member of our most elite special operations unit following you.”

“Sneaky, underhanded. I always wondered where I got my brains.” Fia smiled at him. “I’m staying.”

“Good.”

She shoved her hand into her pocket as they continued towards his office. She pulled out a small toy cruiser to show him. “I kept this.”

For the first time since Hackett came into the café and started talking to her, Fia saw his composure fail him completely. He took the tiny, metal ship out of her hand. He twisted his head away from her but not before she caught a shimmer of tears in his eyes.

“Uhm. Admiral?” She didn’t know what to do with emotions. Patricia’s only emotions were anger and drug-crazed desperation. She frowned at herself over the use of his rank. _Shit. Should she?_ “Dad? I…huh…never said ‘dad’ before, out loud to someone, I mean. Someone, well, you, or anyone. I’ll just…shut up now.”

Hackett shook his head with a laugh. “I bought this for you before you were born…I thought she threw it away.”

“She did.” Fia placed it back into her pocket. “I found it when I was four, buried under a pile of garbage in the kitchen. I kept it with me ever since.”

“A pile of garbage?”

“Patricia didn’t believe in cleaning. I started keeping things clean when I was five. I got tired of fighting off bugs when I tried to eat.” Fia shuddered at the memory. “Omega’s not a very clean place.”

Hackett dragged her into a hug. Fia decided _not_ to tell him it was the first hug she’d ever had. She thought he muttered something about ‘keeping her damn it’ but decided not to worry about it.

He continued on his way to his office with Fia having to walk faster to keep up with him. His arm was a comforting but _firm_ presence across her shoulders. She was surprised when they finally made it to his office to find the room was already occupied by three men, well two and a kid who looked to be about her age.

“Fia.” Hackett placed his hands on her shoulders as he guided her in front of the men. “I’d like you to meet my husband, David Anderson, a good friend of ours, Captain James Stevens and his son Eddie.”

Fia made a half-hearted attempt at acknowledging the two men, but her eyes kept drifting to Eddie. He was probably a foot taller than her, maybe six foot four or five. His short hair was a dark brown and spiked in the front, almost black with equally dark eyes. He looked _built_ underneath his jeans and dark grey Alliance t-shirt.

“ _No._ ” Hackett twisted her firmly away from Eddie who was already starting to grin at her and toward his husband and Eddie’s dad. “I think it’s time for _Eddie_ to head to school.”

“ _Eddie_ doesn’t have school today.” Captain Stevens seemed very amused about something, Fia wasn’t sure what though. He placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Why don’t we let the kids go get something to eat while we talk?”

“Or…you could stop _right_ there with the patronizing shit.” Fia wasn’t going to be intimidated by any of the men in the room. She clenched her hands at her side and glared up at the Captain. “If _talking_ needs to be done about _my_ safety, I’m going to be in the damn room.”

He glanced over at Hackett. “Oh yes, she is _certainly_ your child, through and through. Not a doubt in my mind. All right, Little Admiral, why don’t you tell us why you’ve been following your father for a week?”

She deflated a bit at having to tell _all_ of them, as opposed to just Hackett. “It’s complicated.”

“I think we can keep up.” Anderson perched on the edge of Hackett’s desk.

“ _David._ ”

Fia smiled a little at the protective tone in her father’s voice. He was willing to step between her and anyone, including his own husband. She placed her hand on his arm to pull him back. She told them the whole story, from leaving home at fourteen to recent events with Zaeed and Vido.

“Why come here?” Anderson asked curiously.

“I…” She had spent too much time with Patricia, and a lie came quickly but she shoved it away. “I had no other options. And the last message I had from your husband was that if I ever needed anything, all I had to do was ask.”

“So why follow him for a week?”

“David.” Hackett stepped into the conversation again. “It’s not necessary.”

“No, it is.” Fia wasn’t bothered by the insistent Anderson. His questions were valid ones. “I didn’t know what to say. I mean, I’ve never seen him except on vid-chats with my mother that I wasn’t supposed to _see_ in the first place. What the hell was I supposed to do? I…fuck…I’m out of my depth and the minute I step off of this station, I’m likely dead. I don’t show fear but I feel it.”

“Oh, she’s your daughter.” Anderson cracked a smile for the first time and Fia felt a sense of relief. She hadn’t wanted her shit to come between her dad and his husband. He walked across the room to offer Fia his hand. “We won’t let the Suns get a finger on you.”

“It’s the guns I worry about, not their fingers.” Fia smiled back at him as she shook his hand.

While the _adults_ talked options, Eddie took Fia for a little shopping adventure. She needed clothes and food since she hadn’t been hungry earlier. They headed to his favorite pizza place for sustenance.

_Pizza at nine in the morning._

_She might be in love._

“We have a shadow.” Eddie pointed to the not so subtle Alliance MP standing by the door of the restaurant. “So who do you think they don’t trust? Me or you?”

“We’re eighteen years old. I doubt they trust either of us.” Fia liked the way his brown eyes flashed when he smiled at her. She took her first bite of the pizza. “That’s good shit.”

“Yep.” He washed his own food down with soda. “How do you feel about Galaxy of Fantasy?”

“Love it.”

“Good, good.” Eddie had mischief written all over his face. “And how do you feel about kissing?”

“I’m open to experimentation.” She’d wanted to kiss his damn lips from the moment she’d walked into the office. Her grin widened when he suggested losing the Alliance nanny. “The parental types will murder us.”

“Probably.” Eddie considered it for a moment. “We’ll shop first, ditch the uniformed idiot and go to my house. They didn’t tell us what to do when we were finished.”

“Brilliant plan.” Fia brushed her hands on her jeans. “This is the start of a beautiful friendship which will end terribly when our fathers find us.”

“But what a way to go.” He licked the cheese off of his bottom lip and Fia suddenly felt all of her teenage hormones go crazy. “Let’s get you some clothes.”

* * *

 

_From: Steven Hackett_

_To: Adam Jones_

_Subj: The Blue Suns._

_I understand that you’ve been working with several of the merc groups. I need to get a message to Vido Santiago._

_Make sure he understands that I will completely destroy anyone who lays a finger on my daughter. Unless he wants the full weight of the Alliance on him all the time, picking apart every operation he has. I suggest that he leave Fia alone._

_Steven_

* * *

 

_From: Zaeed M._

_To: Fia H._

_Subj: Safe._

_I checked out of the hospital._

_I’m fine. Recovering._

_Bloody doctors._

_What the bloody hell were you thinking using all of your fucking money to pay for my surgery? What the hell are you going to do now?_

_Let me know that you’re safe, Imp._

_Z_

* * *

 

Hackett should’ve known better than to send two teenagers off on their own, even with a marine watching them. Captain Stevens had done nothing but laugh when they found out the teens had lost the damn guard in the middle of the shopping center. It was hard to find it funny when he’d _just_ gotten her back. He didn’t want to risk losing her so quickly.

They moved silently into the living room of the Stevens’ home to watch the teenagers. Eddie and Fia sat side by side on the couch. They were playing some video game that Hackett didn’t recognize. They periodically elbowed each other or threw food.

_Typical teenagers._

It wasn’t until Eddie suddenly turned towards Fia and their lips connected that Hackett got a _little_ out of sorts. There wasn’t a single innocent thing about that kiss. Hackett coughed _loudly_ when the teens started to wind their arms around each other.

“ _Parental types._ ” Fia leaned away from Eddie with a sigh.

“Time to go.” Hackett grabbed the shopping bags in one hand and the back of Fia’s t-shirt in the other. “We _will_ talk about this later, Edward.”

“Yes, Sir.” Eddie didn’t look the least bit sorry.

“You _are_ both eighteen. I can’t tell you not to kiss the boy.” Hackett grumbled pretty much all the way to his own quarters on Arcturus. “I’ll court-martial him.”

“He’s in high school.” Fia kept sneaking glances at him. “Not used to…someone caring. It’s kinda awesome. I don’t think you can court-martial a high school student.”

“I _can_ wait.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tugged her against his side. “I have a confession.”

“Fuck.”

Hackett frowned when Fia started to pull away from him. “Nothing bad, I promise. I have a three bedroom apartment. Anderson and I share one room, of course, the second room is an office. But the third has always been reserved.”

“Oh.” Her face was shuttered.   Hackett wondered how early she’d learned to mask her emotions. “It’s ok, I can sleep on a couch.”

“You misunderstand.” Hackett guided her through the front door of his home and down the hallway to a room that over the years had been updated several times. “When I first had this room decorated, it was pink and filled with toys. A year ago, I had it redecorated to be more suited for a young woman.”

Fia stepped into the room. She glanced around at the walls that had been painted with a mural of a cityscape. It was Buenos Aires, though she wouldn’t know the significance of that yet.   The bed was covered in a stylish dark blue cover.   There was a canopy over it with a string of lighted stars around the edge. There were bookcases and a desk with a terminal on the wall opposite the closet.

“It’s…for me?” Fia picked up a picture frame from the nightstand that had a photo from his wedding. She held it to her chest. “You’ve kept a room for me all this years. Why?”

“I never stopped wanting you.” Hackett had never really believed this moment would happen. He didn’t know what to do or say. He refused to pressure her into expressing feelings towards a father who had been absent her entire life. “I failed you. And I’m so sorry.”

“How?” Fia turned towards him. He was struck by her eyes, they were _his_ damn eyes. “How have you failed me? I heard all the calls. I know about all of the court cases. You did _everything_ humanly possible. Shit, you did more than most men would’ve done.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

She shifted anxiously then moved forward to wrap her arms awkwardly around him. Her head rested against the front of his dress shirt. “I’m…not so good with emotions. But…I always knew I had you, even if you weren’t there.”

“I _love_ you.”

“I know.” Her arms tightened around him. “Can I stay? I mean, I’m eighteen, I…should be doing something with my life. What the hell am I going…I’ll shut up now.”

“You can stay for as _long_ as you like. This has _always_ been your home, kid. _Always._ ” Hackett had already talked to the director at the Academy. Fia, if she wanted, could take several tests to gauge her education level and then they could figure out how to get her caught up. She deserved an education, a chance at the amazing life he’d wanted for his daughter. “Are you brave enough to be more than a merc with no future?”

“I’m a _Hackett, of course_ I am.” Fia tilted her head back to grin up at him. “Not going to promise not to kiss the boy again.”

“ _Damn it.”_

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fia Face Reference: http://pixelatrix.tumblr.com/post/84340724431/ofelia-fia-hackett
> 
> Eddie Face Reference: http://pixelatrix.tumblr.com/post/85032142381/lovingmalemodels-leo-peixoto-by-lucas-ferrier


End file.
